Apple Inc said on Tuesday that its customers spent $10 billion on purchases in its applications store in 2013, roughly as much as it sold in the previous four years combined, cementing the company's lead over Google Inc in a key battleground of mobile computing.

AP Moller Maersk has agreed to sell most of its stake in Denmark's largest retailer, Dansk Supermarked, as the shipping-to-oil conglomerate continues to prune its sprawling portfolio.

The entire financial services industry should comply with tighter rules over the appointment of senior bankers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog said on Tuesday as it admitted to shortcomings in its screening senior staff at the Co-operative Bank.

Centrica Plc finance director Nick Luff will quit this year to join information group Reed Elsevier, adding to a string of recent departures from Britain's biggest household energy supplier.

Yields on government debt for the euro zone's crisis-hit countries tumbled on Tuesday after Ireland made a storming return to the international bond market with bumper demand for the country's first debt sale since exiting its international bailout programme last month.